Mexican Shrimp Cocktail: Cóctel de Camarones

This is so good and refreshing on a hot summer day, but actually for any time of year, in my opinion. And it's super easy to make. I use 36/40 size shrimp and then I halve them, but you can certainly use 41/50 size. I love serrano chilies, so that's what I typically use, but you can use jalapeño chilies, and for heat shy people, the recipe below won't numb your tongue. Of course, for those who love the heat, you can use habanero chilies and add Mexican hot sauce until your little heart is content. It's a good idea to put a bottle of hot sauce out for people who want to add more.

 

Ingredients: 

 

1 pound 36/40 cooked shrimp, peeled and cleaned

1 cup tomato juice

1/2 cup clam broth (not heated)

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon celery salt

2 to 3 tablespoons Mexican hot sauce (I use Tapatio)

1 cup chopped seedless cucumber (small chop, peeled, unpeeled or partially peeled, your choice)

1 or 2 serrano chilies, chopped

1 cup chopped roma tomatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 medium avocado, chopped

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro (also known as fresh coriander)

 

Add 5 or 6 cups of water to a pan, add 1 teaspoon salt and the juice of 1/2 lime. Bring to a boil and add the shrimp, cook for about 3 minutes or until tender. Drain the shrimp immediately and run cold water over them. Let them sit and you'll be back to them shortly. Add the tomato juice, clam broth, ketchup, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, ground black pepper, celery salt and Mexican hot sauce to a bowl (a glass bowl with a lid is great, and definitely NOT a bowl of aluminum or other metals that react to acidic elements like tomato juice and lime juice). Mix well, especially to get the ketchup mixed in. Add the chopped cucumber, chopped chilies, chopped roma tomatoes, finely chopped onion, chopped avocado and chopped cilantro and mix everything together very well. Cut the 36/40 shrimp in half, then add the shrimp to the bowl and mix again. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but 5 hours is better. Serve with saltines and don't forget to make extra hot sauce available for those who like more heat.  

WORD HISTORY:

False-This word is closely related to "faux," a word derived from the roots of "false," but with an inconsistent history in English since the latter part of the 1600s up to the present, but it was borrowed by English from French, and it is also related to "fail," a Latin-derived word borrowed via French. The origin of "false" is uncertain, although Dutch linguist and etymologist Michiel de Vaan has proposed an Indo European form, like "sgwhel," that meant "stumble," as the original source, but I'm not sold. What is known is that Latin had "fallere," meaning "to deceive," but also, "to disappoint." One of its participle forms was "falsus," meaning "deceived, cheated;" thus also, "mistaken" (adjectivally: "deceitful, deceptive;" noun use: "cheater, deceiver"). Latin-based Old French had it as "faus" and "fals," meaning, "not genuine, untrue, incorrect, deceitful, fraudulent," and English initially borrowed both forms between like 1050 and 1100, reinforced by the Latin "falsus." Later the forms became "fals," before the modern version, the primary meanings of which are: "untrue, fake, incorrect, deceitful." The other Germanic languages have forms of the word, as it was borrowed by Low German as "fals/vals" and then passed on to the North Germanic languages, and it was borrowed by Dutch (from Latin? from French?) as "valsch," then as "vals," and it was passed on to German, which has "falsch" (to simplify things, German originally borrowed a form as "fals" and then "vals"  from Old French "fals," but later the spelling was influenced (borrowed in that sense) by Dutch (from the spelling "valsch," with 'v' being pronounced as 'f', and it became "falsch," the spelling that has continued into the present).